Chapter 2 Fossil Street Chapter 2

Today is Saturday, and I have a holiday like other office workers.But I have to go to Ginza for cash flow.As I walked toward the Fourth Street intersection from the Kyobashi side, I saw a suitably dressed old gentleman standing in front of an old-fashioned store, staring motionlessly at the front of it.My eyes lit up, it was the hat shop where the clown stood thinking about it for a long time yesterday, and the old glass windows and old-fashioned ancient hats came into view again. The old gentleman was wearing a black mountain hat, a white shirt collar that looked even whiter on a black suit jacket, and a pair of gold-rimmed round glasses hanging from his nose.Leaning on crutches, the old gentleman didn't care about the things around him, but looked eagerly at the lower edge of the glass window and at the stone pillars at the entrance.

My interest was aroused again, standing not far from the old gentleman, I quietly observed the old man.The old man looked at a loss, but exuded a detached aura of Taoism, staring at the Toraya hat shop like an antique. Since work was over and I had nothing else to do all day, I began to follow this mysterious old man. The old man walked across the zebra crossing and waited leisurely for the signal to turn green.I stood behind him and waited. Soon the lights changed, he walked slowly, and I followed suit.He walked to Fourth Street in the opposite direction and entered the entrance of the underpass in front of Matsuya Department Store. I followed him down, suddenly surprised.Because this is the No. A12 staircase where the clown stopped to think yesterday!

Like the clown, the old man stood in the middle of the stairs, looking at the black and white stone wall with great interest.The old man spent more than ten times more time looking at the wall than yesterday's clown, as if studying carefully. After another ten minutes or so, he continued to move and went down the underground tunnel. There is a wonderful premonition in my heart that something inexplicable must have happened. The series of things from yesterday to now have surpassed my comprehension and imagination. I feel uneasy about this city that is both familiar and unfamiliar, as if it has become a world completely unknown to me, led by a group of unknown people, trembling with fear welling up from the bottom of my heart, I still follow the old man without giving up .

Sure enough, the old man climbed up the stairs to Exit A7 as I expected, and was keen to study the surrounding blue marble walls. Then he returned to the underground passage, leaned on crutches and turned right towards Hibiya, near the entrance of the Hibiya Subway Line, and stood in front of the chocolate-colored stone pillar again, with his back slightly bent, still staring at the stone pillar in detail. Then, instead of heading towards Hankyu Department Store, he entered the ticket gate of the subway Marunouchi Line and took a train bound for Kasumigaseki.I no longer wonder if the old gentleman is following the same line as yesterday's clown, but what are they after?

I think he must have got off at Kasumigaseki, and then headed for Exit C4 on the Chiyoda Line. I really wanted to ask, but I couldn't make a sound (in fact, I couldn't muster up the courage), so I could only silently stare at the old man who was dangling on the ring.He closed his eyes and meditated, with a scholarly demeanor that made it difficult for me to speak out of respect.Arrived at Xiazhi Pass.The old man really got out of the car and walked slowly towards the long underground passage.Because of the slow speed of the old man, it took a long time to walk across the platform of the Hibiya Line and proceed to the old and mixed shopping street yesterday, and there were no passers-by around the same as yesterday.After enduring it for a long time, I finally stepped forward to talk to the old man with an impulse.

"Excuse me, sir." I said loudly next to the old man's ear. The old man looked back at me in astonishment, and the expression on his face changed from anxiety to relief.See if I don't say anything. "I'm so sorry, but I wanted to ask if you're going to the C4 stairs?" I asked him, pointing ahead. The old gentleman answered me in a low tone: "Yes." "Is there anything over there? What were you standing in front of the hat shop and in the underground passage looking at?" Maybe I was intimidated by the way I spoke.I tried my best to show humility, but the old man still showed his displeasure.Then he said something I couldn't understand: "Treasure hunting! This is a big treasure mountain!"

"Treasure hunting!" My head was pounding, what's going on?The gentleman left a sentence: "Excuse me." He walked slowly towards Exit C4, leaving me standing upright. What treasure are you looking for──? On the way home, I saw the clown again in the underpass at Shinjuku West Exit.I stared at him as I walked, and he was still intent on looking for weekly magazines in the trash can. That day, because I raised a little money, I couldn’t help feeling much happier than the day before, so I didn’t think about the consequences of doing this. I walked up to the clown who was buried in the trash can, and whispered in his ear: “ Have you given up on the 'treasure hunt'?"

Suddenly, the clown lifted his head from the bin, looking surprised.Because his face is still heavily dressed, I can’t really see his expression, but I can feel his surprise, and he said in a hoarse voice: "How?" It was almost impossible to hear what he said.I pretended to be mysterious and said: "Isn't it the way to 'treasure hunt' in Shinjuku Mitsukoshi, the various underground passages in Ginza, and Exit C4 of Kasumigoseki?" The clown's face changed - I could see it.After that, contrary to yesterday, the clown refused to leave even one step, and followed me lifelessly.

Passing through the ticket gate of the national railway, I got off on the platform of Okubo Station. Among the chaotic crowd behind me, I could vaguely see the strange figure of a clown.After exiting the ticket gate, I drove straight to the alley home without daring to breathe.I could always feel the gaze of the clown behind me. But at this time, he didn't say anything, just followed from a distance.Now I have unspeakable regrets, why did I talk to the clown so easily! Entering the porch of the house and walking to the window of the study on the first floor, the clown has not left yet.There are no high walls around my house, just low screens surrounded by barbed wire, so climbing in is easy.He crossed the low screen and was still dancing in the yard in the middle of the night, doing handstands or climbing on Himalayan firs.If I close the curtains in the study, he will come over and knock on the glass window, open the window, and he will jump back into the courtyard and keep waving to me.

My wife was terrified and asked me the reason frequently, but I really didn't understand the intention of the clown in front of me at all. Called as soon as he disappeared from the yard, probably a nearby public phone, with his strangely condescending tone, and kept asking me to tell him something. "Boss, what do you mean by treasure hunting? Please tell me!" I really want him to tell me!I don't know anything, and it was just a tentative question to him just now.But the clown doesn't think so. He must think I'm hiding some big secret on purpose, God only knows.The clowns were constantly on the phone or showing up in the yard to harass me.

I've been confused myself. Could it be that the clown has some secrets that he doesn't know?So what was he looking for half a day yesterday?And who is he?What did he think I knew? My silence finally caused my wife to call the police, and the clown ran away when the police car came, and came when the police car left. My wife and I had no peace that night.